Marshmallow-Chocoholic

This is a definitely a slippery slope argument as it is dependent on a lot upon where you’re from in the world and sociocultural norms . I appreciate what you’re trying to say by age differences in relationships ( I also know a lot of happy couples with big age gaps), however, that’s a bit of a different argument in many cultures to effectively a minor and a grown-man ending up together in a romantic storyline . In a lot of worldwide societies many individuals would considering this “ child grooming”. Regardless of the FL being a “ sociopath”, time-skips or being intelligent, @Joy is bang on the mark by saying that the FL is still very much in a developmental stage ( scientists may mark this as “ late adolescence” which can even last between the ages of 24-25) with her brain and hormonal imbalances. This isn’t saying it’s “ wrong” for the FL to have physical or sensual attraction towards the ML and nor did the ML attempt to lead her on as a child either . In fact in the later storyline it is important to remember that regardless of psychical development, the FL is still an adult and this “ problematic” gap between the leads( dependent on the FL being a child in the early storyline ) has been smoothed over. On the other hand, an issue which often arises in big age gap relationships which isn’t addressed in storylines like Itaewon Class with nearly a 12 year age gap , as socio-psychological and sociological differences between couples from different generations can undeniably often put a damper on wider social factors.

I have mixed feelings about the drama also. The irony is that webcomic actually started on a pretty good note with Ji Kyung being a fairly relatable and down-to-earth heroine, however, when they began introducing the whole spectrum of cliches with the love triangle, her character started becoming incredibly superficial and the messages conveyed soon became “ makeup will make you prettier and never take it off in public otherwise you’ll be ugly.” If the drama storyline had attempted to smooth down these evident problems of the webcomic, and gone down the “ The Makeup Remover” route where the message is prominent that makeup can be a source of problems for societal beauty standards, but also a form of expression and identity , then maybe the drama wouldn’t have been too bad. Admittedly it was sort of nice to see that one scene where Jin Kyung learned to accept her “ flaws” by showing her friends but even changing certain background stories or roles in the drama, just made Jin Kyung and her romantic love triangle boring and shallow for the most part.

@sal09 We definitely could see some better character growth in the next four episodes, so fingers crossed :).

@Faye Waters I’m not entirely sure who you’re directing this comment towards, but I’ll answer anyway as a lot of your points seem to cover what myself, @Binci and @Jessica have mentioned. First of all, it is true we have preferences. Mine will evidently differ from yours, just as yours will differ from mine. However it is a bold assumption ( especially as the point wasn’t even brought up) to assume that we are even suggesting in this line of discussion that any of us are trying to ship Yeojun and Soohyun. I can understand if maybe you misunderstood the line of discussion here, however, ironically our comment was upon the scenes that we were all seemingly not “ really watching” and our feelings towards how enforced this pairing felt for us. Nobody is saying that Jun can’t have this relationship romantically with So Bin and his friendship with Soohyun , but rather just the problem of how the show has taken this direction for us. Again, I appreciate that you are probably an advocate towards this pairing and there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s how you feel, however, please comprehend the line of discussion first before making wild assumptions :).

@sal09 I think it’s wonderful if you can feel this way about So Bin and I am honestly not dismissing your view in any way. For me personally at least So Bin is the “ carte blanche” love interest- she has the potential to be interesting and well-rounded , but ultimately gets lost in the sea of her archetype as the “ asset”. I am not saying that So Bin should be explored in Freudian depth into her psyche, as sometimes simply taking the most simplistic approaches can be intriguing for viewers. Additionally as someone who terribly suffers from social anxiety in real life, I honestly think it’s wonderful to see a character represent real-life problems. However, what is irksome is that So Bin is a motiveless girl, in an otherwise motivated world throughout the events of the storyline . What do I mean by this? Well, look at her counterparts Soo Hyun or even Jun. They’re not perfect, and certainly are not supposed to be, however, they have goals; Jun to have an authentic emotional bond with someone, Soo Hyun tries to make ends meet and look after his brother even if it means becoming a social pariah, however, So Bin studies? It would be understandable if the drama had offered some reasoning behind this, or even taken the epiphany of dramatic irony by the fact that So Bin doesn’t know herself what her own goals are, or struggles to truly grasp what her future should be, but there’s none of this offered or even explained. She studies because she’s supposed to represent the “ South-Korean hardworking student” and that’s really it. Yes, she struggled with her vindictive professor, but what else can we grasp? Evidently there’s her past, however, it’s hard to join the dots here towards any elements of her past not being used to foreground romantic pairings in the show bringing us full-circle once more to the problem of So Bin as the “ asset” for the pairing between SB and Jun. Honestly, I genuinely think if you can see something poignant in this pairing , then I do think it’s wonderful that you connect to it. However, for me So Bin is a female lead who is written to appease the “ pairing” between herself and Jun, without being treated forthright as an individual.

I get you. The sad problem is that So Bin has the potential to be an intriguing, motivated character but ultimately she really only serves one purpose to be an “ asset” to a romantic pairing. I know what the screenwriters are trying to do here with “ two problematic people from different walks of life falling in love”, but there are so many versatile ways to build up , develop it or at least maintaining a platonic and respectful friendship , rather than enforcing it in a way which makes it seem as @Jessica said as though Jun has more equivocal respect for Soo Hyun.

This is definitely giving me Judge Dredd-style vibes. Interesting, a good cast and certainly a breath of fresh air for recent Korean dramas but ( for me at least) there are few things such as lighting and editing which undeniably feel a little off.

Oddly enough in C-dramas it seems to be a common occurrence in romantic storylines.

So far it hasn’t really been indicated an exact reason but it would seem to suggest that Yeo Joon is viewed as the “ inferior son” by his parents in comparison to his brother . ( Hinted by past dialogue that YJ is never been a prodigy and isn’t attending a SKY/ elite University. )This was indicative of the way his father was quick to allow his “ son” ( thinking it was Yeo Joon’s brother) to access company files before losing it when he found out it was Yeo Joon, as well as his mother saying that he “ shouldn’t have been born”. ( Admittedly there are some more selfish reasons with YJ’s mother having to leave behind her dreams in the webcomic from what I can make out.) His brother seems to be a bit more of a tricky issue to explain, however, the most likely is that he has been pushed by his parents into the elitist role of the “ prodigy” and so his ability to connect or kindle a bond with his brother outside of the way his parents have programmed him is difficult. This isn’t to excuse his actions towards YJ, however, I think from the way we’ve seen the camera pan out during interactions upon the brother’s face that he does care about YJ in his own way. In terms of the money, I’d say that it was probably from whatever “ allowance” that he’s been given by his parents as a form of bribe to keep away from the family residency .We don’t entirely know exactly how much YJ gets from this allowance, however, it seems to be a hefty amount considering his plush apartment, being able to afford luxury clothing and going out on top.

You’re welcome , I’m glad that I could help :)

So far in South-Korea the viewer ratings seem to be dropping ( the first episode was 2.5% in the Seoul area, roughly 2.2% nationwide) with the recent episode averaging at 1.173%. This is an interesting case as Nevertheless in SK airs on cable network ( JTBC) and so viewers ratings will always be a little lower. That aside it seems as though this drama is evidently is flopping ( there could be several reasons by air time, rating restrictions, lacking publicity etc) in SK. However it seems unlike even a couple of years back, a lot of networks have caught onto the ideology that they can still gain ratings and make a profit by selling the rights to international companies such as Netflix. ( Hence why the drama seems to be flourishing pretty well amongst the international community.)

There’s a couple of big revelations here to the webcomic which certain readers may not have come across yet. ( Although it it’s unlikely it will pop up in the drama for certain reasons, there may still be some major plot points appear.) However, thank you for considering this for future reference :).

@Kcitkat I’ll be honest by saying that I’m on the fence with the current pairings. Not exactly in the “ hate camp” or anything, just not overly engaged either. That aside I do agree that if the show focused more upon the trio’s bond as a platonic friendship rather than romantic ( for me at least) , this would undeniably work really well. In the webcomic, there’s still a lot of debate and theories towards who Soo Hyun will end up with ( although he’s dating Jun’s brother) as well as whether this will be Jun or not in the finale . Sadly I doubt the drama will take this direction, however, I must agree with you that most of our characters are quite dynamic.

@Gintoki No, this isn’t really a rom-com per say. As @Jessica pointed out there have been a few funny scenes dotted around the drama so far , but nothing to the point of your sides aching either.

@Gintoki No, this isn’t really a rom-com per say. As @Jessica pointed out there have been a few funny scenes dotted around the drama so far , but nothing to the point of your sides aching either.

@mikroyoes I hate to be “ that person” but pleasing think about putting on a spoiler tag on in order to not spoil the storyline so far for others :).

@mireille So long as the drama doesn’t stray away from the webcomic, it certainly won’t.

For a lot of viewers and original readers of the webcomic, this is more of the direction of the plot away from the original central messages. I won’t give away too much towards exactly what happens with the storyline ( in case you ever find yourself reading it) but trust me when I saw that whilst it’s important to validate this as a standalone production, certain screenwriting decisions do feel a little off.

schmoi_444 You’ve said it perfectly. It isn’t the case that there is a bad setup with characters or even their backgrounds, just that the screenwriter isn’t truly using this as an opportunity to explore and flesh-out the characters as individuals.

You’re welcome :).